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Four years of blogging!

I’m going to say something really obvious here (just warning you), I can’t believe I’ve been posting on this blog for four whole years! I feel like its a massive milestone for me, and also a time to reflect.

I do find that I tend to get a little obsessed about the stats on my blog. I love to watch the numbers increasing, the numbers of followers, pages views and likes on facebook, but that is not a REASON to blog, and I think it can distract me from my reasons I started and continue this blog.



I started writing the blog because I wanted to share what Pete and I were learning about farming and self-reliance. I didn’t know about homesteading or prepping at the time, I just thought we had some experience that might be useful to other people. To be honest, I didn’t know ANYTHING about blogging when I started, I only began to read other blogs and comment so that they would visit my blog! But then I discovered how much I could learn from other blogs, and I’ve made a few blogging friendships as well. Its one sure way to find other people with common interests! Even better, I now have a record of things that we did, so that I can refer back in years to come.

As I started to look at other blogs, I realised that people were making money from blogging. I never started this blog to make money, I had no idea that was even possible! Even though it wasn’t my original intention, I have been making a few attempts to monetise my blog mainly because I found that I like writing and I’d like to be able to justify spending more time on it, rather than just a hobby in my spare time. This isn’t easy because I really want to also stick to my values, and that means I don’t want to just sign up to random ads about flat tummies. I have approached a few companies that I wouldn’t mind advertising, but no interest so far. I have some affiliate links, which bring in a little bit, and I appreciate all of you who have made a purchase through my “book store”, as I recently received nearly $20 credit from Amazon! When you buy books through my site, I can buy more books! I have also sold a few copies of my ebook “Our experience with house cows” and had some lovely feedback, so I hope that it will continue to help people get started with house cows.

With all this in mind, I need to take time to work on my next ebook “How to build and use a chicken tractor”, or I will never get it done! That will be one more option for people to support my blog in future. I’ll be back in January, but not as frequently, just until I make some progress. By then I’ll probably have a massive backlog of blog post ideas, but if you do have a question or topic that you would like me to write about, please send me an email or comment below.

Thanks everyone who has followed this blog, whether you’ve been here from the start or only recently, please know that every page view gets me unjustifiably excited! The best part is comments, and I know I’m TERRIBLE at replying, but I do love to read your comments, some make me chuckle and some make me think, but they are all good.

I think I’ve covered everything we got up to in 2014 in the summary posts over the past couple of weeks. Next year, I expect we will have a new roof on the house, the solar bore pump completed, progress with bees and lots of garden time. Thanks again for sticking with me and joining in here and on facebook. I hope you have a break over Christmas and I’ll see you next year.

If you need to catch up on Eight Acres 2014 (150 posts exactly!), here's some summary posts to get you started:

How to follow Eight Acres
Everyone seems to like to use different technology and follow blogs in different ways, so I do try to cater for everyone.

If you have a blog on blogger yourself, the easiest way to follow is to click the "follow" button on the sidebar (and I'd be honoured if you added me to the blog roll on your blog, I try to do the same for any new follows)

If, like me, you changed over to bloglovin when google reader was shut down, just to cover all the other blogs that aren't on blogger, you can follow me on bloglovin here or on feedly here.

If you want my posts and a few extra photos and witty comments direct to your facebook feed, "like" my facebook page by going here.

We're on Pinterest too and I am trying to remember to pin each Eight Acres post, as well as any other interesting posts I come across, follow me on pinterest here.

And finally, if that's not enough for you and you just want a plain old email of every post so you don't miss out, you can enter your email address on the sidebar of the blog through feedburner.

Comments

  1. I still love your blog - 4 years on.

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  2. Congratulations Liz on reaching the four year milestone. Good luck with your new e-book. Merry Christmas to you and Peter, and best wishes for a very prosperous 2015.

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  3. I have really enjoyed reading your blog this year Liz, I live in Brisbane and its nice to read about farming close to home. I hope you and Peter have a lovely Christmas and I look forward to reading reading your book on chicken tractors :)

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  4. Thanks Liz - I am going to let you in a on a secret....the reason I LOVE your blog is you post EVERYTHING that happens, and show people the ups and downs of farm life. You also have a way of explaining things that makes it accessible to all levels of thinking - I know when I read your ebook on milking a cow that this was going to help so many people starting out with being self sufficient.
    Have a lovely Christmas my far away Queensland farming friend, I look forward to reading more next year of your adventures.

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  5. I like reading your blog, I don't always comment as by the time I get to read someone has already commented about what I would say.

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  6. As was said above me, I too don't always comment but I always visit and enjoy what you do. Keep up the good work!

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  7. congratulations & 'happy birthday' with your 4th year! am enjoying your blog too, a lot of good information here easy to read & understand. look forward to seeing you in the new year
    have a merry xmas & a happy new year!

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  8. Well done on four years! I have to say your blog is one of my favourites. I always take time to read it even if I don't comment. Your posts are some of the most well researched and thought out that I read, more like magazine articles than simple blog posts. I also like the contrast of how you have to deal with a different set of problems to what I do over here with our different climates, it sometimes lets me see things from a different perspective and then lets me think about my own problems and challenges differently.
    With blogging I often feel that I've found a like minded community of people who just happen to live all over the world. Many of my "real" friends just aren't that interested in what I do or don't have sufficient knowledge or experience to have any input. Having blogs like yours and others keeps things interesting and they are a continual pool of ideas and inspiration and let me know that I'm not the only one doing crazy things!
    Thanks again and I hope you guys have a good Christmas.
    Kev XX

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  9. congrats!!! looking forward to your next book!
    :-)

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  10. Congratulations on 4 years. Looking forward to more interesting posts in the new year.

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  11. Thanks everyone! I'm looking forward to keeping up with all your blogs next year too :)

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  12. I read this post, but ran out of time to comment before Christmas prep kicked-in to full gear! I hope you guys had a Merry Christmas too, and maybe in 2015 you'll finally get to move to Cheslyn Rise?

    I like reading your blog and if if things change, that's okay too - I'll read it for as long as it's running. :)

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  13. Hi Liz,

    I am just catching up on blogs as I have gotten behind over the Christmas period, hence my late response to this post.

    CONGRATULATIONS on your fourth blogging anniversary!!

    I cant quite recall how long I have been following you now, but I remember reading an article of yours in Grass Roots or Earth Garden, and thinking "I follow Liz's blog :)

    Being a farm girl myself I like to follow blogs that relate to my previous life. I like the wide variety of topics you bring and your knowledge of the subjects. I have learned quite a lot from some of your posts.

    I have been blogging for just over 7 years, and I don't know where the time has gone. The last two years I haven't been able to blog as much as I would like, but I am hoping that changes this year, as I am going to try and make time.

    Happy New Year and keep up the good work!

    xTania

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Thanks, I appreciate all your comments, suggestions and questions, but I don't always get time to reply right away. If you need me to reply personally to a question, please leave your email address in the comment or in your profile, or email me directly on eight.acres.liz at gmail.com

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